When did basketball stop becoming a contact sport?

[Balticfox]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

You're right, that aspect has been evolving for longer...I think it has gotten worse in recent years though.

I agree! The NBA has been infamous for the amount of travelling with which players get away for decades but it's gotten even worse.

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Also, international basketball is less silly than the NBA...they actually call travels and allow more defense. Olympics, World Cup, FIBA is some of my favorite stuff to watch.

Oh, absolutely!

Where I disagree with many of you is that I believe that Wilt Chamberlain is still the greatest of all time. Consider. The NBA changed the rules to make it more difficult for him to dominate (plus of course there was much more defence back in the 1960's). But the NBA changed the rules to make it easier for Michael Jordan to dominate simply because the NBA wanted to encourage spectacle as opposed to defence.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by Balticfox

I agree! The NBA has been infamous for the amount of travelling with which players get away for decades but it's gotten even worse.

Oh, absolutely!

Where I disagree with many of you is that I believe that Wilt Chamberlain is still the greatest of all time. Consider. The NBA changed the rules to make it more difficult for him to dominate (plus of course there was much more defence back in the 1960's). But the NBA changed the rules to make it easier for Michael Jordan to dominate simply because the NBA wanted to encourage spectacle as opposed to defence.

Wilt as the GOAT is definitely a fair argument to make. Another guy I don't hear mentioned enough is George Mikan. Also completely dominant in his time.

[mortimer brewster]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Wilt as the GOAT is definitely a fair argument to make. Another guy I don't hear mentioned enough is George Mikan. Also completely dominant in his time.

I haven't really followed basketball much since my Braves left Buffalo. Wilt would be my all time greatest player also. Even into the mid 1980s there were always rumors that some NBA team was trying to entice him out of retirement.

As a head coach in San Diego of the ABA in 1973-74 he was not very good. An early strategy was having his players foul an opponent frequently to make them "earn" their points at the free throw line. They got killed. He must have thought all of the other players were terrible free-throw shooters like himself.

[Gorditadogg]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Wilt as the GOAT is definitely a fair argument to make. Another guy I don't hear mentioned enough is George Mikan. Also completely dominant in his time.

I am a big fan of Wilt and Mikan, but I think there are only three players you can make a good argument for as GOAT. Whether you look at awards, counting stats or advanced stats, MJ, LeBron and Kareem stand out above everyone else.



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[carlsonjok]

While last Saturday's Thunder-Pistons game was a real donnybrook, I suspect the huge dollars involved in the game (and all sports for that matter) make it increasingly likely that such games are the exception. Investments of that size need to be protected, not unlike a super rare card being shipped from an auction house.